Biologique Recherche CEO reportedly exits as a sales process begins

Jean-Guillaume Trottier has left his post as chief executive of Biologique Recherche, according to sources. Rupert Schmid and Pierre-Louis Delapalme are believed to have returned to operational roles at the French skin care brand, serving now as co-CEOs on an interim basis.

Both men are also vice chairmen of the company's supervisory board, so the pair already sat inside its governance before stepping back into day-to-day leadership. The brand's flagship institute is on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The brand is also believed to have kicked off a sales process, sources told WWD. A company spokeswoman had no comment on that information, and no comment on the chief executive's departure either.

Trottier's mission had been to carry the 40-plus-year-old brand into its next chapter by returning to the qualities that made its market debut disruptive: personalization, biotechnology, innovation and a novel approach to retail.

Biologique Recherche was established in the 1970s by Yvan and Josette Allouche, a biologist and a physiotherapist, as a research-and-development operation creating treatments and formulating products for professionals. It has grown well beyond that founding remit since, and now sells in 74 countries.

Philippe Allouche, the founder's son, was to continue as head of creation when the company took on long-term strategic partners in 2019. The sources do not say whether his role has changed with the leadership shift.

The ownership picture

That October 2019 investment was the company's last major one, seven years ago. Three European family offices signed on as long-term strategic partners: the Van Rappard family, Christopher Descours and the Frère family.

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the former Nestlé chief executive, joined them in the same round. The group backed a brand that had generated sales of around 40 million euros the year prior, according to industry sources.

Today the company is believed to generate approximately 150 million in sales annually. Set beside the 40 million euros of 2018, that is the scale of the business the investors and Trottier were asked to carry forward.

Clinical skin care's moment

The leadership change comes as investors are chasing clinical skin care, aesthetic procedures are becoming more common and the pandemic has sharpened consumer attention on wellness. That backdrop makes a reported sales process easier to understand.

The brand has been expanding its physical footprint at pace. Last month it opened its first New York City flagship, which marked its fourth location in the United States and its 11th globally.

Over the last year it added 40 new doors to its US retail footprint through debuts at Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and other retailers, taking its treatment-led positioning onto department-store beauty floors.

The exit of a chief executive alongside a reported sales process points to a company preparing for change, though nothing has been confirmed. The spokeswoman's silence leaves the timing and the terms open.

No buyer has been named and no valuation has been reported. The company has not confirmed that any process is under way, and the sources describe the co-CEO arrangement only as believed to be in place.

Neither the length of the interim arrangement nor the reason for Trottier's departure has been stated. No source names a permanent successor or a date for any formal announcement on the company's future.

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Images: Biologique Recherche; Jean-Guillaume Trottier Courtesy of Biologique Recherche